Nissan is a Japanese OEM that sells cars and light commercial vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti and Datsun brands. Nissan is also the controlling shareholder in Mitsubishi Motors and has a cross-shareholding with Renault. This page contains research on Nissan and Mitsubishi's activities and strategy.

2018

Nissan’s board voted unanimously to terminate Carlos Ghosn’s role as chairman and set up a committee to review governance but held off naming a direct replacement. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi deeply apologised for Ghosn’s alleged offences and said it would remove him as chairman. (Mitsubishi), then chose the CEO to become CEO and chairman. (Mitsubishi)

In a shock announcement, Nissan said that an investigation started by a whistleblower discovered that Chairman Carlos Ghosn had under-reported income and used company funds for personal use, and was aided in a cover up by one of the directors. Nissan took steps to dismiss both and has cooperated with Japanese authorities. (Nissan)

40% of Nissan Serena minivan buyers in Japan are choosing the series hybrid option. (Nissan)

Nissan will make a new small van, called the NV250, based on Renault’s Kangoo and produced in Maubeuge, France. Mitsubishi will launch a 1 ton van based on the Renault Trafic to be manufactured in Sandouville. (Renault)

Said it had enough Nissan Leaf vehicles enrolled in its vehicle-to-grid scheme to qualify as a power station under German regulations. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi commenced production at its new engine plant in China, a joint venture with GAC. (Mitsubishi)

Nissan created a new business unit to cover Latin American markets. (Nissan)

Nissan now offers a range of aftermarket option packs aimed at fleet. Nissan says the products can increase residual values and fleets will benefit from discounts and the availability of dealers to fit the accessories. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi reported financial results for the second quarter of the financial year (Q3 2018). Revenue of 1.2 trillion yen (about $10.2 billion) was up 23.4% on a year-over-year basis whilst operating income of 56.9 billion yen (about $500 million) was up 28.6% YoY. (Mitsubishi)

September

Launched production of the all-new Altima at the Canton, USA plant. (Nissan)

Took a stake in the e.DAMS racing team that will run Nissan’s Formula E entry. (Nissan)

Unions are unhappy with a voluntary redundancy scheme the alliance has offered at its Tamil Nadu, India, plant saying the company should have consulted with them first. (Business Standard)

Believes that car sales in the US may make a partial recovery as interest rate increases and higher gasoline prices may SUVs less affordable. (Bloomberg)

Looking to expand in the Indian market with twice as many sales and service points (270 today) by 2021. The product strategy will be reshaped with Nissan concentrating on the higher end of the market and more vehicles from the Datsun brand to cater to budget conscious customers. The company will also hire 1,500 people at Indian technical centres. (Nissan)

Increased the range of remanufactured parts available in a bid to retain customers once the warranty period expires by offering lower prices; Nissan says about by 30%. In addition, it is expanding the offering of lower cost consumables. Less clear is how Nissan plans to market the parts to retail consumers and incentivise dealers to offer them. (Nissan)

Nissan’s design chief seemingly confirmed the company is working on a new Z (sports) car. (Which Car)

August

Launched production of the new Altima sedan at the Tennessee, USA plant after a $170 million refit of the plant facilities and tooling. (Nissan)

Production of the China market-only Slyphy BEV began at Dongfeng’s plant in Huadu, China. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi is increasing production of the Xpander small crossover from 100,000 units annually to 150,000 units by 2019, citing wild sales success in the ASEAN region, particularly Indonesia. (Mitsubishi)

Nissan has trademarked “h-POWER”, leading to speculation that it could be used in hydrogen vehicles. (Auto Guide)

July

Nissan has agreed to sell a majority of its AESC battery division to Envision. (Envision)

Nissan executives expect 35% of the brand’s European sales in 2025 to be electrified vehicles. (Autocar)

May add another plant in China, but wants to maximise existing capacity first. (Bloomberg)

Said it is on track for its Japanese electric car sharing venture to reach 500 sites by March 2019. (Nissan)

If demand is sufficient, Nissan will build 50 GT-R50 supercars, with a likely price tag of €900,000 each. (Top Gear)

Disclosed that end of line emissions tests had been falsified at some Japanese factories. The implications remain unclear without knowing to what extent measured values deviated from homologation. (BBC)

Nissan reported net revenue of 2,716 billion yen (about $24.5 billion) in Q2 2018 (Nissan’s fiscal first quarter), down (1.6)% on a year over year basis. Operating Income of 109 billion yen (about $1 billion) was down (28.8)%, which Nissan blamed on lower sales and unfavourable exchange. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi reported financial results for Q2 2018 (fiscal first quarter). Net sales of 560 billion yen (about $5 billion) were up 19% versus the same period a year earlier. Operating profit of 28.1 billion yen (about $250 million) was up 7.5%. (Mitsubishi)

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi collectively sold 5,538,530 vehicles in the first half of 2018, an increase of 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. (RNA Alliance)

June

CEO Ghosn said the company was “in the dark” about what form Brexit would take and was therefore struggling to plan an appropriate response. (City AM)

Cancelling the sale of its battery business to GSR Capital because the buyer has not provided the funds it promised. The company will now consider its options. (Bloomberg)

Carlos Ghosn said that although discussions about a deeper relationship between Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, a full takeover by Renault was not one of the options. (Reuters)

Nissan announced long term targets for its expansion plan covering Africa, the Middle East and India; there were few specifics about how Nissan intends to accomplish its goals. (Nissan)

Said that ultrahigh tensile steel was a key element of its weight reduction strategy, with a target of 25% usage by weight (at an unspecified point in the future) -- it already overachieved this figure in the new Infiniti QX50. (Nissan)

Announced that annual synergies from the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance reached €5.7 billion in 2017, up from €5 billion in 2016 driven by new measures such as including Mitsubishi in spare parts, retail financing and benchmarking. (Renault)

Launched a new sustainability strategy with goals for the year 2022 covering the environment, society and governance. (Nissan)

Reportedly planning to cut production of Nissan vehicles by up to 20% in North America due to falling profitability. The cuts should have been fully implemented by the end of the year, without no redundancies forecast. (Reuters)

Carlos Ghosn said a merger of Renault and Nissan was unlikely before 2020. (Bloomberg)

Alliance Ventures will invest in Maniv Mobility’s technology fund and aims to do a deal per month. (Reuters)

Nissan’s CEO said there was no merger negotiation going on with Renault but acknowledged that the two companies continue to discuss their future relationship. (Les Echos)

Launched a new offering in the UK that provides solar panels, stationary storage and home energy management (potentially including vehicle charging). Customers will have a choice of either brand new or used electric vehicle batteries. (Nissan)

The implied take rate of Nissan’s ProPILOT driver assistance technology suite is around between 20% - 25% on vehicles where it is offered. (Nissan)

Plans to “discontinue diesel gradually from passenger cars at the time of each vehicle renewal”. (Reuters)

Renault CEO Ghosn said “nobody can answer this question” when asked whether Renault and Nissan would merge by 2022. He also said that “more than 95%” of vehicle content needs to be Chinese to be competitive in China and that this requires joint ventures. (Macau Business)

April

Nissan’s CEO said there was “no merit” in a full merger with longtime partner Renault, citing unspecified “side effects”. (Economic Times of India)

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance has joined Didi Chuxing’s project to increase availability of BEV and PHEV vehicles for ride sharing drivers. (Nissan)

Showed the China-market only Sylphy electric vehicle, derived from the Leaf. (Nissan)

Launching a voluntary redundancy program at its Sunderland, UK plant, aiming for “hundreds” of takers. Nissan called the program “short term”. (The Guardian)

Financial Year 2017/18 Results

Nissan reported financial results for the 2017/18 year. Net sales of 11.95 trillion yen (about $110 billion) were up 2% on the prior year, operating income of 574.7 billion yen (about $5.2 billion) was down (22.6)%. In the coming financial year, Nissan expects sales to be slightly better but operating profit to decline slightly to 540 billion yen. (Nissan)

Both companies continued to deny persistent rumours that Nissan and Renault are engaged in merger talks with a view to a new company headquartered in either London or the Netherlands. (Les Echos)

Signed an agreement to produce Datsun cars in Pakistan from 2019 onwards. (Nissan)

Aiming to sell 1 million electric cars per year by 2022, a mix of BEVs and hybrids. The company gave a bit more detail on its intended product portfolio saying that there will be 8 new BEVs by 2022, including a kei car and a C-sized crossover. There will also be an “electric car offensive” in China. (Nissan)

Told US dealers that it was slowing production at a number of plants as it aims to reduce inventory to between 50 to 60 days. (Bloomberg)

Opened a lithium ion battery recycling plant in Japan as a joint venture with Sumitomo. The plant will repurpose used car batteries and depending on the condition may re-use them in vehicles or put them into packs for industrial vehicle use or stationary storage. (Nissan)

Started offering “refabricated” battery packs for the Nissan Leaf -- using a combination of new and good condition used components. At the moment, the offer is for Japan only. Pricing for a 40 kWh packs is around $7,800, giving an effective per kWh price of $195. (Nissan)

The Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance announced a series of joint appointments to strengthen shared operational teams. Many of the announcements were matched pairs. As part of the move, cooperation with other OEMs, such as Daimler, was made an alliance responsibility rather than sitting with the individual companies. (Nissan)

Aiming to produce cars with solid state batteries by 2030, with 2025 as an internal stretch objective. (Next Green Car)

Following press speculation that it might buy the Renault stake owned by the French state, Nissan said it was not looking to change the relative ownership balance. (Reuters)

Selling new Leaf in Europe at a rate of one every 12 minutes -- equivalent to around 45,000 units per year. (Nissan)

February

Announced new initiatives for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, including a deeper involvement for Mitsubishi. By 2022, the group expects to sell 9 million units from 4 common platforms (about 65% of sales) and for 75% of vehicles to use common powertrain. (Nissan)

Said that tests of its previously announced Easy Ride robo taxi pilot scheme would start on March 5th. (Nissan)

Announced a new investment plan for its Chinese JV. The aim is to increase volumes from 1.52 million in 2017 to 2.6 million by 2022. The DFL Triple On plan will see new models launched, including 20 electrified models (not all BEVs) -- by 2022 the JV expects these models to make up 30% of sales. (Nissan)

Published a research report that said 37% of ASEAN customers planning to buy a car are open to an EV. (Nissan)

Announced a collaboration with carpooling app Hytch whereby Nissan will sponsor a system of reward payments made to both drivers and passengers who choose carpooling instead of separate journeys. (Nissan)

January

Chairman Ghosn is creating a new structure in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance to divide operations and strategy roles after he steps down. He believes that it was appropriate to combine these functions in a single person (himself) to form the alliance but that it could harm the continued running. (Reuters)

Nissan’s Infiniti brand said it will start selling both hybrid and BEV vehicles in 2021 and that by 2025 over half of global sales will be vehicles with electrified powertrains. (Nissan)

Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi announced their venture capital fund. The rumoured €200 million investment turned out to be only the first year amount with the partners prepared to commit up to $1 billion over five years. (Nissan)

Will end production of the Pulsar and a passenger derivative of the NV200 at its Barcelona plant, with increased production from new pick-ups for Mercedes and Renault compensating for the lost workload. (Europa Press)

Has sold 75,000 vehicles equipped with its latest L1/L2 ADAS suite, almost all of them were in Japan. (Nissan)

Expected to announce a €200 million fund to invest in mobility companies with 40% of the capital from Nissan, 40% from Renault and 20% from Mitsubishi. (Les Echos)

Will demonstrate advances in brain-to-vehicle technology at CES. Nissan says that it can be used to improve reaction times and enhance computer-assisted driving. (Nissan)

2017

2017 Full Year Earnings

Nissan reported financial results for Q4 2018, revenue of 2,943 billion yen was down (2.2)% on a year-over-year basis, profit of 163.5 billion yen was down (15.1)%. Nissan held its forecast FY revenue but reduced the profit outlook by (12.4)%. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi reported financial results for Q4 2017, revenue of 1.5 trillion yen was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. Operating profit of 64 billion yen was a marked improvement from a (23) billion yen loss in 2016 Q4. (Mitsubishi)

December

Nissan’s Canadian finance arm suffered a data breach in which customer data was taken. (Nissan)

Offering customers in Japan free home solar panels if they buy a Nissan Leaf and agree to a 20-year electricity supply contract. (Nissan)

Nissan is launching an all-electric carsharing scheme called e-Share Mobi in Japan. (Nissan)

Created a new brand for robo taxi ride hailing called Easy Ride, in partnership with DeNA. The companies are planning a two week long public trial in March 2018 in Yokohama, Japan. Full services will be introduced by the “early 2020s”. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi signed an MoU with the Indonesian government to find ways of promoting electrified vehicles in the country. This seems to be an opportunity to influence government policy around incentives. (Mitsubishi)

Will investigate vehicle-to-grid applications for electric vehicles in Japan with TEPCO -- Nissan already has several projects running in different European countries. (Autocar)

CEO Carlos Ghosn gave an interview in which he said that the industry would be totally transformed in 10 years, with large changes starting in the next three to four years. He said that significant further guidance from regulators was necessary before the winning technology set could be identified. He also said the best business advice he had ever been given was “if you want recognition, buy yourself a dog”. (Nissan)

November

Said that it will introduce a new internal combustion technology, variable compression, in the 2019 Infiniti QX50, claiming at least 30% improvement in fuel economy over the prior generation vehicle. (Nissan)

Issued its report into the final inspection scandal. Following the incidents, Nissan’s CEO will forego some of his pay. (Nissan)

Said that it might need a new factory in the US because existing plants are “maxed out”. (Bloomberg)

Installed a solar roof on its Netherlands distribution centre that has been funded in part by selling long-term claims on the electricity produced to local households. (Nissan)

Carlos Ghosn said in an interview that car ownership would continue and the growth of ride-hailing did not affect negatively affect sales volumes “a lot of people think this is substitution, it’s not -- it’s addition”. (Bloomberg)

October

Said that it had decided fixes for the problems with its final inspection routines in Japan and would be soon implementing them across plants. (Nissan)

Said that it will join Formula E from the 2018/19 season, taking over Renault’s participation. (Nissan)

Said that it wants to have a 5% market share in India by 2020 -- setting a 250,000 unit sales target. (Economic Times of India)

Showed a concept of an all-electric small SUV with a claimed 600 km of range. (Nissan). The company has created a sound called “Canto” that future Nissan electric vehicles will use at speeds of up to 30 kmh -- only time will tell if it becomes as iconically annoying as the Nokia ringtone (Nissan)

Has begun testing fully autonomous vehicles in Tokyo and remains committed to making the technology available from 2020. (Nissan)

Said that the new Leaf was selling well with 9,000 orders taken so far, including 2,000 in Norway alone. (Elektrek)

Mitsubishi announced targets for its three year plan called “Drive for Growth”. The company is aiming for a 6% operating profit by 2019 with a massive sales increase and will launch 11 new models, focus on core markets and reduce costs. (Mitsubishi)

Said that despite an earlier stoppage, it had discovered that several plants had continued to carry out inspections by incorrectly certified personnel and therefore production in Japanese factories was shut down. The problem appears to be that vehicle plants divided up quality checking tasks in a way that had not been approved. (Nissan)

Said that it was adding a 2nd shift (457 workers) to its St Petersburg plant in order to increase production of Qashqai, X-Trail and Murano. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi will undertake a vehicle to grid trial with PHEVs in the Netherlands. Although there are several schemes under trial with various manufacturers, this seems to be the first PHEV specific one. It is in collaboration with NewMotion (recently purchased by Shell). (Mitsubishi)

Following on from Nissan’s delivery suspension notification, the issue turned out to be improper certification of final inspection personnel. The Japanese transport ministry launched a series of spot checks on Nissan plants. (Reuters)

Held an event called Nissan Futures 3.0 where it unveiled a longer range version (280km) of the e-NV200 light commercial vehicle; said it would increase its charging network from 4,600 to 5,600 points within the next 18 months; showed off new charger and home storage products (developed with 3rd parties); and said it was working on vehicle to grid charging offers with electricity companies across Europe with the aim of providing sufficient revenue from the services to pay for the electricity needs of customer vehicles. (Nissan)

Said that all-electric cars could capture an 8% share in Spain within the next three years through a combination of infrastructure development and suitable government incentives. (Faconauto)

Said that customers would now be able to use Amazon’s Alexa service to carry out remote commands for such features as locking the vehicle or flashing the lights. For those worried about unauthorised use, Nissan has created the option of a four digit pin, which is spoken out loud (so that should stay a secret then). (Nissan)

Q3 2017 Earnings

Reported Q3 2017 / 1H fiscal year financial results. Although revenues were up, profits were down, in part due to market mix. Nissan reduced full year profit outlook, partly due to the final inspection issues in Japan. (Nissan)

Mitsubishi reported Q3 2017 / 1H fiscal year results. Revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis and the business has a YTD operating margin of 4.7%, up from a negative (3.7)% margin the previous year. (Mitsubishi)

Reported Q3 2017 global sales of 1,414,864 units, an increase of 6% on a year-over-year basis. Sales were down (3)% in North America, but up in all other regions -- by 26% in Japan. (Nissan)

September

Announced that it will suspend all registrations of vehicles in dealer and factory inventory in Japan. Nissan cited unspecified type approval irregularities as the reason. The fix appears to be a check of the affected vehicles after which, if they pass, they can be released to customers. (Nissan)

Infiniti executives said that the brand will launch an all-electric vehicle -- likely to be a sports car -- in 2019. The car will use Leaf technology but will have its own platform. (Autocar)

Mitsubishi is to add a vehicle to its Kaluga, Russia plant. The company will employ 440 people on 2 shifts to make the Pajero Sport. (Mitsubishi)

Following an in-depth research project, Nissan has found that 86% of people are driving the wrong colour of car for their personality. Apparently, more than half of participants claiming that they chose their favourite colour -- so the implications are, of course, enormous (from a philosophical standpoint). (Nissan)

Announced an updated set of targets for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance to achieve by 2022: annual sales of 14 million vehicles; €240 billion turnover; €10 billion of synergies (an artificial figure -- €5 billion claimed currently). The group intend to have 12 purely electric vehicles on sale by 2022 and will launch various levels of driverless systems across 40 vehicles, culminating in a fully autonomous vehicle on sale in 2022. The alliance aims to become an operator of robo taxis, without providing further details. (Nissan)

At the launch of the new Leaf, Nissan said that the new generation would have a 40 kWh battery and 378km (European drive cycle) range (150 miles on US EPA rating) as well as a number of driver assistance technologies. Nissan executives said they hoped to sell 90,000 vehicles per year and that the company believed electric technology alone was “not enough” to change travel and buying behaviour and therefore they had combined the all-electric vehicle with new technologies in order to present a more compelling prospect to customers. Nissan will be progressively offering features of a service called Nissan Intelligent Integration which aims to help customer’s manage their overall energy supply. (Nissan)

During the media reveal of the new Leaf, Nissan executives said that a higher performance derivative to launch in 2018 would have a 60 kWh battery and that “we might have a crossover [SUV] EV shortly in the future”> (Economic Times of India)

August

Announced that the Renault-Nissan Alliance would create a new joint venture with Dongfeng, to be called eGT New Energy Automotive, to produce electric vehicles in China. Ownership will be 25% Nissan, 25% Renault and 50% Dongfeng. The initial product will be an A-sized SUV with a sales target of 120,000 units per year, to be launched in 2019. (Nissan)

Announced July sales and production results. Global sales of 448,906 units was up 4% on a year-over-year basis. (Nissan)

A pilot vehicle-to-grid scheme in Denmark operated by Nissan and Enel is paying a company €1,300 per vehicle per year to allow its plugged in vehicles to be use for grid management. It isn’t clear if this is a special incentive to participate in the scheme or the energy company genuinely believe V2G systems are profitable at this level. (Bloomberg)

Nissan engaged in a bit of dodgy maths by saying that there would be more electric vehicle charging stations than fuel stations in the UK by the year 2020. Given that a charging point is more analogous to a fuel pump than an entire fuel station, the comparison seems designed for headlines over analysis. (Nissan)

Selling its battery business to GSR Capital. In order to complete the transaction, Nissan will first buy out NEC’s share of the JV and then sell the complete business. The deal includes three manufacturing sites. (Nissan)

Said that 60% of customers were taking the opportunity to add personalisation options to their new Nissan Micras, spending an average of €400 each in order to do so. Nissan said the ability to personalise the vehicle was the number one reason for purchase given by customers. (Nissan)

July

The attempt by US union the UAW to organise the nearly 6,000 workers at Nissan’s Mississippi plant failed. (The Guardian)

Said that it had started a second shift at its Resende, Brazil, plant due to high demand for the Nissan Kicks in the region. (Nissan)

Will face a vote for union recognition at its Mississippi plant in early August with the UAW accusing the company of intimidation tactics. (More…)

Said that the new Leaf will have an e-pedal -- a device that will allow almost complete control of braking and acceleration with a single pedal. (More…)

Said that it expects 20% of European sales to be fully electric by 2020 “where the market conditions are right”. (More…)

Announced a second shift at its St Petersburg, Russia plant. 450 employees will be recruited as a consequence. (More…)

Said that in 2016, the Renault-Nissan alliance had delivered €5 billion in annual synergies, a 16% increase over the figure for the previous year. With the addition of Mitsubishi and further application of CMF-based vehicles, R-N expect this saving to reach at least €5.5 billion by 2018. (More…)

Q2 2017 Earnings

Reported Quarterly financial results (Nissan reports this as Q1 of its 2017 financial year). Operating profit of 153.3 billion yen was down (12.8)% year-over-year whilst revenues were up 4%. Nissan explained the profit reduction as primarily due to raw materials, exchange and the removal of Calsonic Kansei from reported figures. (Nissan)

Said that combined sales of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi vehicles meant that on a year to date basis the alliance was the largest seller of vehicles at 5,268,079 units. (Renault)

Reported production and sales figures for June. Global sales of 502,878 vehicles was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sales in Japan were up 46.1% YoY and rest of the world was up 3.5%. (Nissan)

Reported sales results for US and Europe. US sales of 143,328 were up 2% on a year-over-year basis. European sales of 70,757 units were up 4.4% YoY. (..)

June

Announced May 2017 production and sales results. Global sales of 460,554 units were up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis, led by sales of passenger cars in Japan. (More…)

Early model (2011) and high mileage Nissan Leaf owners are reporting range degradation of over 50%. They are also discovering that Nissan’s earlier statements about battery replacement cost are not being honoured by dealers. (More…)

Said that the next generation Leaf will have ProPiot features that allow autonomous driving in single-lane highway driving (i.e. the system will not change lanes but it will follow curves). Over time the system will be expanded and will “eventually” be capable of city intersections -- earlier company materials have suggested that this is not until the 2020s. (..)

Mitsubishi said that electric vehicles will be a major part of their strategic plan and that they had changed their thinking, having previously been of the opinion that EVs were “promising, but the price was too big and the range was limited. (More…)

Said that the Renault-Nissan alliance intends to launch driverless on-demand services “within 10 years”, though likely not starting before 2020. The services at launch are intended to be heavily geo-fenced, including specific pick-up and drop-off locations. (More…)

Said that the search for the new Mitsubishi CCEO will include all corporate officers. An exact timing for the new CEO was unclear with “April on” being mentioned -- presumably April 2018. (More…)

Announced that it had reached an agreement with unions at its factory in Avila, Spain that will see the plant remain open but convert from vehicle production to a parts depot. (..)

Following on from its announcements around a US charging network with stations of up to 150kW, Nissan has signed a contract with DBT to upgrade its European network to 150kW in the coming years. (More…)

Nissan is in dispute with the unions at its Avila, Spain plant. It has given a deadline on 14th June for the workforce to accept the same terms as Renault’s plants in the region or face closure. (..)

Reportedly planning a 100 MW battery storage facility in partnership with Renault and a business called The Mobility House. The site would contain both new and used batteries. (..)

Saw media speculation about succession planning for CEO Carlos Ghosn’s replacement. The Renault-Nissan alliance is reportedly considering appointing a joint executive who would pursue synergies between the two. The role would be a platform for potential future leadership of both companies and may well be a current Renault or Nissan executive. (..)

May

Reported May US sales of 124,957 units. This was an increase of 2% on a year-over-year basis. Declines in passenger car volumes of 3.1% YoY was more than offset by a 21.5% increase in truck volumes. (..)

Bloomberg wrote a report critical of Nissan’s use of fleet sales to keep market share in the USA. (..)

Will reportedly sell its 51% stake in its Lithium Ion battery JV with NEC to Chinese private equity firm GSR capital for about $1 billion. (..)

Said that a credit card it had launched in partnership with Synchrony Financial could form the basis of a payments platform for mobility services. (..)

Will be part of an 11-company consortium that aims to accelerate roll-out of hydrogen stations in Japan, targeting 160 stations and 40,000 fuel cell vehicles by 2020. (More…)

A recent North America supplier relations survey saw Nissan drop to the bottom of the comparative ranking table of how Tier 1 suppliers perceive OEMs. (..)

The CEO of Mitsubishi Motors said that he will stay in post for the 2017 financial year and has not yet decided on his future beyond that. (..)

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said that it was “good news” that Emmanuel Macron had been elected president of France. Macron was the architect of the move by the French state to purchase a sufficient stake in Renault to force the Florange law terms for double voting rights for long term shareholders to pass. (..)

Confirmed that the Nissan Sunderland plant had experienced problems due to the “WannaCry” cyber attack but that there was “no major impact”. (..)

Launched a pilot project in Italy with Enel Energi and IIT for vehicle to grid technology that allows electric cars that have been parked and plugged in to supply energy to the grid at times of high demand. (..)

Said that Nissan’s global sales and production set new records between April 2016 and March 2017. Sales and market share in Latin America were a highlight with a 6% year-over-year volume increase. (..)

Announced that Nissan will join Mobileye’s Road Experience Management platform that provides high-quality real time maps. The partnership has been speculated about for a while. (..)

Will build a second “advanced recharging corridor” in the USA with partner EVgo. The route will create charging stations between Boston and Washington D.C. 50 chargers will be installed and the sites will be capable of 150kW chargers but initial installation will be 50kW per charger. (..)

Q1 2017 Earnings

Mitsubishi Motors announced results for financial year 2016. Global sales of 926,000 units was a 12% fall year-over-year. Full year revenues of 1.9 trillion yen were down 16% YoY. Full year operating profit was 5.1 billion yen with a net loss of 198.5 billion yen. Despite the losses, the performance in the last six months was seen as positive progress after the fuel economy crisis that lead to Mitsubishi’s rescue by Nissan. (..)

Nissan announced 2016 financial year results. Global sales were 5.63 million units. Revenue of 11.72 trillion yen was down 3.9% year-over-year. Operating profit of 724 million yen was down 6.4% YoY. Nissan said that the profit and revenue falls were more than explained by exchange and that adjusting for this the YoY performance would have been revenue up 6.4% and profit up 29.1%. The company also gave an outlook for the current financial year. It expects sales to increase to 5.83 million units but operating profits to fall to 685 billion yen. The profit drop was mainly explained as being due to higher raw material costs and exchange volatility. (..)

Announced that its 2016 fiscal year sales in Europe were a new record, with a 2.6% year-on-year increase. (..)

Reported March 2017 US sales were up 3% year-over-year. Infiniti brand sales accounted for almost all the increase (Source)

Canadian sales up 5.5% YoY

March

Said it would make efforts to improve its relationship with the UK dealer network after receiving a 4.0/10 score in the NFDA survey